Inside Man: From Mercedes engineer to classics restorer

[gsxr]

Nice writeup by Hagerty on one of the good guys out there - Jaime Kopchinski of Classic Workshop, NJ:

Inside Man: From Mercedes engineer to classics restorer​

Inside Man: From Mercedes engineer to classics restorer - Hagerty Media

Jaime Kopchinski of Classic Workshop is a rare bird, versed in both vintage Mercedes and their modern, electronics-intensive successors.

www.hagerty.com

 

[a777fan]

Fascinating. Kind of like Pierre 2.0.

 

[gsxr]

Fascinating. Kind of like Pierre 2.0.

Yup! And Jaime's operation looks a lot more clean-room.

 

[Bogeyman]

Interesting comments on parts availability.

Maybe he knows some people we don't?

 

[a777fan]

Hehe. IMHO, the whole parts availability question is kinda like asking ‘What color is the sky?’

The guys who like the ‘young’ classics (aka all of us who ‘live’ here…) think it absolutely SUCKS because we’re just coming into the time period where the stuff that has been available since these things were new is now disappearing. Zoom tubes, for example.

The guys who like the REALLY old stuff think parts availability is ‘great’ because they can call up the classic center and get a spindle for their 1952 190-whatever-ponton delivered to their door the next day. Which I’ll admit IS pretty amazing. But these parts are one-offs, and don’t represent availability of the entire catalog, which is what I think we complain about when we talk about parts availability here. For the 190-whatever-ponton guys, the ‘zoom tube’ equivalent parts have been gone for years, and therefore so has the requisite whining and complaining. Lol. They are just happy to get their spindle.

 

[ccrelan]

Interesting comments on parts availability.

Maybe he knows some people we don't?

I was thinking the same exact thing.

 

[maw1124]

Interesting comments on parts availability.

Maybe he knows some people we don't?

“Part of what makes sourcing so easy for him is that, as he observed while working there, Mercedes thinks hard before making any changes to their cars. Both an early 1970s S-Class and a 2015 S-Class, he points out, have the wiper and headlight controls in the same place. Another example: a connector that he pulls from under the hood of a 1991 420SEL, which is almost identical to the same corrosion-resistant, expensive connector in modern Mercedes-Benzes.”

What he probably knows better than us is parts compatibility. But, he’s also not talking about specialty vehicles (.036), just old cars. So that probably makes a bit of a difference as well.

maw

 

[gsxr]

Interesting comments on parts availability.

Maybe he knows some people we don't?

He's talking about cars from the 50's/60's/70's. Perhaps availability is better? @LWB250?

For the 124/129/201 chassis, yeah... not so much and the NLA rate is accelerating at a logarithmic scale. We can hope that in a decade or three, MB will start reproducing our needed 124 / 036 parts, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

 

[maw1124]

He's talking about cars from the 50's/60's/70's. … For the 124/129/201 chassis, yeah... not so much and the NLA rate is accelerating at a logarithmic scale. We can hope that in a decade or three, MB will start reproducing our needed 124 / 036 parts, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

OK @gsxr since you went there, I was thinking some of that. It depends upon the supplier mix. He’s also talking about recommissioning parts runs. There’s a space in the article where they say the rubber and the metal are the same as factory original. That struck me — metal and rubber and same. I‘d wager that one or a few parts suppliers (all or most of which are still current MB suppliers) made most or all of the .036 specific parts, and the tooling is all sitting in one or a few places. A recommissioned parts run might be simple enough that MB does it for these cars.

maw

EDIT… now Audi and the Allroad 4.2, I’m not holding my breath

 

[TerryA]

Hehe. IMHO, the whole parts availability question is kinda like asking ‘What color is the sky?’

The guys who like the ‘young’ classics (aka all of us who ‘live’ here…) think it absolutely SUCKS because we’re just coming into the time period where the stuff that has been available since these things were new is now disappearing. Zoom tubes, for example.

The guys who like the REALLY old stuff think parts availability is ‘great’ because they can call up the classic center and get a spindle for their 1952 190-whatever-ponton delivered to their door the next day. Which I’ll admit IS pretty amazing. But these parts are one-offs, and don’t represent availability of the entire catalog, which is what I think we complain about when we talk about parts availability here. For the 190-whatever-ponton guys, the ‘zoom tube’ equivalent parts have been gone for years, and therefore so has the requisite whining and complaining. Lol. They are just happy to get their spindle.

@a777fan,
Funny you should mention a 190 Spindle,
Around 1990 I actually had to get a new spindle from Germany (Body Shop got it) for the right front of our long gone 1957 190SL after we (my Wife & I) were hit by an uninsured driver. The crash took out the right front including the grill. Insurance paid out over $8K to fix it. The gal that hit us was uninsured and didn’t even have a driver’s license. She was driving on a green card. When our insurance tried to collect a payment from her she disappeared.

 

[asultan]

I plan on visiting his shop sometime in the fall as he's in my neck of the woodsish and one of my friends is actually going to start as a tech there pretty soon!

 

[Jlaa]

Hehe. IMHO, the whole parts availability question is kinda like asking ‘What color is the sky?’

The guys who like the ‘young’ classics (aka all of us who ‘live’ here…) think it absolutely SUCKS because we’re just coming into the time period where the stuff that has been available since these things were new is now disappearing. Zoom tubes, for example.

The guys who like the REALLY old stuff think parts availability is ‘great’ because they can call up the classic center and get a spindle for their 1952 190-whatever-ponton delivered to their door the next day. Which I’ll admit IS pretty amazing. But these parts are one-offs, and don’t represent availability of the entire catalog, which is what I think we complain about when we talk about parts availability here. For the 190-whatever-ponton guys, the ‘zoom tube’ equivalent parts have been gone for years, and therefore so has the requisite whining and complaining. Lol. They are just happy to get their spindle.

Jaime Kopchinski is GREAT and an awesome breath of fresh air!!!!

FWIW Hagerty wrote the article. Hagerty has a huge vested interest in seeing classic-car-ownership expand, because this is where they make money - underwriting insurance policies for this stuff. Hagerty's business model is unlike all the other classic car insurance companies ....... HGTY charges high premiums because they spend big dollars in events / publications / shows / "lifestyle" stuff as "advertisements" for people to buy insurance policies from them.

To me it seems HGTY is going after the "newcomers" of the classic-car world --- targeting Gen X and millennials and non-ultra-technically-inclined with all the "lifestyle" stuff --- who don't know any better about the best value in insurance ..... consequently, HGTY will do its best to present classic car ownership as something that is friction-free and painless. This is all just my guess and opinion.

Here's a quote in the article as well that trivializes the challenge in obtaining parts for young classics. HGTY probably didn't publish any remarks that mentioned difficulty in obtaining parts ---- only remarks touting the ease in doing so:

Along with the manufacturer’s obsessive documentation and a range of specialty tools, Classic Workshop’s operation depends on a reliable flow of quality parts. Which, he says, Mercedes does especially well. “A lot of people like to complain that Mercedes doesn’t support their classic cars,” he says. “But I find that to be untrue.” He gets daily FedEx deliveries from Mercedes-Benz Classic Center in Long Beach, California, which supplies the majority of the parts that he uses to get and keep cars running. “Pretty much anything I could need, they can get me tomorrow morning,” he says. For components that he can’t get straight from the source, he orders them from separate supplies, which Mercedes will often hire to keep up with demand. These replacements might cost more than and look a bit different from the originals, but the metal and rubber will be the same as what was put in the vehicle at the factory.

HGTY isn't in the business of publishing this article to sell advertisements. HGTY is in the business of publishing this article to sell insurance policies.

Lastly I will point out something along your comment about "just happy to get their spindle...." Look at the picture of the 1952 190-whatever-ponton below: Three things jump out at me -
- dented fabric basis for speaker
- degraded dashboard piece
- crooked housing / radio installation

All three defects in a young classic E500E would have some of us (you @TimL and me both at least. ) looking for NOS pieces to replace these. But, perhaps the Ponton crowd doesn't care because this can be chalked up as character and patina and the Ponton crowd are happy to get their spindle? Just hypothesizing....

 

[kegmankipp]

Obviously the work of Cross-eyed Craig at Cobblestone Cantina Restorations

 

[Sam SL]

It is refreshing to read about a young passionate car person upstart with an entrepreneurial spirit.

From Mercedes engineer to classics restorer

However the title of the article does not describe what type or level of restorer he is. Given his experience and type of jobs that run through his shop on a daily basis (15 on average), is he someone I would leave my 280SL for a full on body and mechanical restoration? I think I would develop a working relationship with him for maintenance service stuff first and then perhaps over time have him do more complex projects. The devil is in the details. That is what I concluded for myself.

 

[a777fan]

Jaime Kopchinski is GREAT and an awesome breath of fresh air!!!!

FWIW Hagerty wrote the article. Hagerty has a huge vested interest in seeing classic-car-ownership expand, because this is where they make money - underwriting insurance policies for this stuff. Hagerty's business model is unlike all the other classic car insurance companies ....... HGTY charges high premiums because they spend big dollars in events / publications / shows / "lifestyle" stuff as "advertisements" for people to buy insurance policies from them.

To me it seems HGTY is going after the "newcomers" of the classic-car world --- targeting Gen X and millennials and non-ultra-technically-inclined with all the "lifestyle" stuff --- who don't know any better about the best value in insurance ..... consequently, HGTY will do its best to present classic car ownership as something that is friction-free and painless. This is all just my guess and opinion.

Here's a quote in the article as well that trivializes the challenge in obtaining parts for young classics. HGTY probably didn't publish any remarks that mentioned difficulty in obtaining parts ---- only remarks touting the ease in doing so:


HGTY isn't in the business of publishing this article to sell advertisements. HGTY is in the business of publishing this article to sell insurance policies.

Lastly I will point out something along your comment about "just happy to get their spindle...." Look at the picture of the 1952 190-whatever-ponton below: Three things jump out at me -
- dented fabric basis for speaker
- degraded dashboard piece
- crooked housing / radio installation

All three defects in a young classic E500E would have some of us (you @TimL and me both at least. ) looking for NOS pieces to replace these. But, perhaps the Ponton crowd doesn't care because this can be chalked up as character and patina and the Ponton crowd are happy to get their spindle? Just hypothesizing....

View attachment 172728

100%

Acceptance of ‘patina’ is directly proportional to the age of said vehicle. Although I do have my doubts about @TimL

And great point about what might amount to a HGTY ‘come on in, the waters fine!’ approach to maintaining one of these things. It certainly does them no good to have everyone know about the endless internet trolling that comes along with ownership these days.

 

[TimL]

100%

Acceptance of ‘patina’ is directly proportional to the age of said vehicle. Although I do have my doubts about @TimL

I know, I know, it’s dumb but I can’t help it.
Cars with patina just don’t work for me, I don’t know why…..

I agree 100% with you @Jlaa, the article trivializes the effort that is involved with finding parts and one can’t help but think of the ulterior motive that an insurer like Hagerty has in an article like this. One can only hope that the newbies they intend to lure into the market take great enjoyment in patina, as it already is next door to impossible to keep the young-timer cars like the 036 technically and cosmetically up to standard. I know that once Monroe shocks and Uro LCAs are all you can get, I will be out of the 500 E. That is until my collected MB spare parts run out.

 

[Jlaa]

I know, I know, it’s dumb but I can’t help it.
Cars with patina just don’t work for me, I don’t know why…..

I agree 100% with you @Jlaa, the article trivializes the effort that is involved with finding parts and one can’t help but think of the ulterior motive that an insurer like Hagerty has in an article like this. One can only hope that the newbies they intend to lure into the market take great enjoyment in patina, as it already is next door to impossible to keep the young-timer cars like the 036 technically and cosmetically up to standard. I know that once Monroe shocks and Uro LCAs are all you can get, I will be out of the 500 E. That is until my collected MB spare parts run out.

For what it is worth, @maw1124 has had Koni Yellows, which are adjustable for rebound, on the front of this E500E, for many years. I do not know what he has set the rebound to (midway? full soft? full firm?) but I believe he likes it.

KONI Store

Front Adjustment Type: knob;Rear Adjustment Type: mono

shop.koni-na.com

Also KW has a v3 suspension (which is not coil-over despite the text) https://www.kwsuspensions.com/mercedes-w124-kw-v3-classic which is adjustable in both rebound and compression. I bet with a modern digressive valve stack, these feel pretty darn good.

https://www.kwsuspensions.com/mercedes-w124-kw-v3-classic

Just options for you once the supply of OE front struts runs out. You might find, in your ownership journey, that you get less strict about "OE only" as time goes by. The Porsche air-cooled crowd is the complete opposite of "OE only" and I think that mentality has had some effect on my tolerance of non-OE replacements (as long as they are high quality) in the future....

BTW I happen to know someone that replaced their young timer E500E rear differential with an aftermarket unit!

 

[TimL]

For what it is worth, @maw1124 has had Koni Yellows, which are adjustable for rebound, on the front of this E500E, for many years. I do not know what he has set the rebound to (midway? full soft? full firm?) but I believe he likes it.

KONI Store

Front Adjustment Type: knob;Rear Adjustment Type: mono

shop.koni-na.com

Also KW has a v3 suspension (which is not coil-over despite the text) https://www.kwsuspensions.com/mercedes-w124-kw-v3-classic which is adjustable in both rebound and compression. I bet with a modern digressive valve stack, these feel pretty darn good.

https://www.kwsuspensions.com/mercedes-w124-kw-v3-classic

Just options for you once the supply of OE front struts runs out. You might find, in your ownership journey, that you get less strict about "OE only" as time goes by. The Porsche air-cooled crowd is the complete opposite of "OE only" and I think that mentality has had some effect on my tolerance of non-OE replacements (as long as they are high quality) in the future....

BTW I happen to know someone that replaced their young timer E500E rear differential with an aftermarket unit!

@Jlaa, it’s not so much the non OEM thing than poor quality parts a la Monroe or Uro. For example I wouldn’t have any problems with any of the replica parts that Stern Garage makes

 

[Stevester 500E]

NLA parts for the .036 suck, it's H.S.
Especially as iconic as the .036 is.

 

[LWB250]

Now that this has devolved into a parts availability thread rather than one celebrating one of our own's accomplishments, I'll have a say:

While I've had a great deal of experience with certain model Mercedes' from the 1960s and 1970s, I can't speak with 100% assurance to *all* parts availability for this vintage car. I will say that the last car I did some pretty substantial work on, a 1965 220SEb, I had little to no difficulty obtaining hard parts from Mercedes. That, and they were pretty reasonable. For example, I put new springs on all around the car, mainly because the driver's corner was so weak the car was sagging about 2". Front springs, brand new and recently made, were around $110 my cost. I think rears were slightly cheaper.

The funny thing was that the fronts got backordered, which spooked me. I had my parts guy make an inquiry to the Mothership, and he was told that they had been waiting for the supplier to make another production run, which they were doing in a few weeks. After about a total of six weeks, I got my front springs. Suspension rubber was pretty much 100% available. I did the trailing arm bushings, differential mounts/bushings, and all the other rubber on the car. Every piece came from MB.

I will also say, in response to the picking on the Ponton, that many trim and appearance parts can be tough to locate. For example, there's no such thing as a dash pad for a W110/111/112 (from Mercedes) and hasn't been for decades. However, you can get "hits" in other areas like headliners. I got a brand new, OE pinhole style fabric headliner for that car for $165.

Again with the Ponton, many of the dash parts and appearance pieces are Bakelite. They can be restored, I'm told, but it's a time consuming, laborious process. I'm not aware of these pieces being available new, although I've done little with Pontons.

And again, a big "HUZZAH!" for Jaime! You can't buy that kind of exposure/advertising.

Dan

 

[maw1124]

@Jlaa, it’s not so much the non OEM thing than poor quality parts a la Monroe or Uro. For example I wouldn’t have any problems with any of the replica parts that Stern Garage makes

Yeah, one of the things I've gotten comfortable with is setting the car up how I want to drive it, which may or may not be factory. My E5E has always had a bunch of aftermarket stuff on it -- RENNtech rear subframe and LSD, Koni Yellows (one click stiffer than soft), 18" wheels, Megan camber arms, etc., etc. which is a more restrained approach.

I see the E46M crowd using some of the same suppliers to much greater modifications -- lowering, stiffening, BBK, exhaust, etc. As it pertains to the Allroad, I wish I'd set it up properly sooner (sway bars, new air springs, new downpipes w/converters next up, etc).

It's all just part of the fun. But yeah that dash has to go and a crooked radio is a non-starter.

maw

 

[alabbasi]

Jaime is a good guy. I've known him since 2002 when he put together a writeup on removing heater levers on a Mercedes W108. It's good to see that he's following his passion.

 

[TerryA]

For what it is worth, @maw1124 has had Koni Yellows, which are adjustable for rebound, on the front of this E500E, for many years. I do not know what he has set the rebound to (midway? full soft? full firm?) but I believe he likes it.

KONI Store

Front Adjustment Type: knob;Rear Adjustment Type: mono

shop.koni-na.com

@Jlaa, I had Koni Reds on my long gone 86 300E. After lowering it w/ Eibach Springs and running 17” Monoblocks and Michelin 225/45-17 tires. I was not satisfied with the ride despite having brand new MB stock shocks. Eibach assured me stock shocks would be fine so I had bought a new set X4.

Anyway, I purchased the Koni Reds that were adjustable on rebound only. Koni recommended the Reds at the time and said the Yellows would be too harsh for a 300E. Anyway the Reds helped smooth out the ride but not completely. I eventually went to a different tire size and brand a Yokohama 225/50-17. This finally got me to a ride that was acceptable to me. Only then I had some minor rubs that would occur under certain conditions. I learned to live with them since I spent a small fortune lowering the damn car.

Point being I will not be lowering any more Mercedes cars. My 500E will stay with stock suspension under my ownership. Koni Yellows would probably be acceptable to me if stock E500E shocks become NLA.

lol

 

[bclifton]

Loved reading this - thanks for sharing! Lots of great pics to go along with the write up and Jaime seems like a solid dude.

He's pretty close to my old hometown (just visited last month). Given how bad the weather has been this summer in Arizona, we've floated the idea of moving to the north east. Just a dream for the moment... but great to see there's an amazing person in that area in case we ever DID pull the trigger

I've been a Mercedes guy for most of my car owning years- so I don't really have any other marquees to compare to, parts-wise. But I think Mercedes-Benz has done pretty well with having a supply chain for mass produced models (most of what I've owned). I can definitely understand and appreciate getting parts for the E500E being tough - I got a small taste of that when I was restoring my old 560SEC (ex: try finding NOS "sails", the cover that goes over the seatbelt presenter). The past few years in particular have been really bad though - lots of regular parts coming up NLA (Vacuum pods, throttle linkage cables...).

Mercedes-Benz Classic Parts Search. does have a Make a request form you can fill out to request a NLA part to come back into production. Even though that form probably goes into the void, I fill that out sometimes just in case someone does actually read those

Please MB

 

[LWB250]

I've known Jaime since he graduated from college and was working for Becker. I've known a lot of engineers in my life, and there seem to be few that can function well when it comes to the actual practical application of things, that is, sure, you can design it, but can you troubleshoot/repair it?

Jaime can. That takes an extra measure of skill that few possess.

This has got to be an incredibly exciting time in his life, which I can relate to having owned/started up a business myself. It's exhausting, exhilarating, and ultimately, something that gives you a feeling of pride and accomplishment that is indescribable. Couldn't happen to a nicer and more deserving guy who has worked hard to accomplish what he has done so far.

Dan

 

[maw1124]

I'm also very happy to see youth pouring into the ecosystem from all over, actually.

maw